I don’t know how many people have heard of the show, The Big Bang Theory, but I love it. It’s on CBS. Anyways, they have some clever scientific titles for every episode they have. It just so happens that the theory of Schrodinger’s Cat is discussed in the episode titled The Tangerine Factor. I also found out that this same theory is mentioned in such shows as CSI, Doctor Who, and House M.D.

The Big Bang Theory does a pretty good job of giving a brief explanation of the theory, but since then I have become more interested in it. Basically, the theory is this: You place a cat in a sealed metal box with a vile of poison and radioactive material. There is also a Geiger counter. When the Geiger counter detects the decay of radioactive material, a hammer is then triggered to smash the bottle of poison, therefore killing the cat.

Here is where the theory gets interesting. The observer of the experiment does not know when the cat is dead or alive, because they can not know when the vile was smashed. Therefore, the cat is considered to be simulataneously dead and alive.

This all was made as a representation of the Quantum Theory of Superposition, which deals with the nature of matter on the microscopic and macroscopic level. It’s all very scientific. The theory says that there is no single outcome to  a situation until it is observed.

Quantum Theory or Quantum Mechanics should not be considered to be summed up well by my explanation, but The Big Bang Theory did a good job of helping me understand it. They presented a unique application of the theory in terms of a real life situation (the relationship status of Penny and Leonard). Since seeing this episode and reading more about it, it is interesting to know that Quantum theory can be so closely related to everyday situations and ordinary people.